Economy

US and Mexico agreed to overhaul NAFTA
2018-08-28 01:30:25 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Mexico agreed on Monday to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), putting pressure on Canada to agree to the new terms on auto trade and other issues to remain part of the three-nation pact.
U.S. President Donald Trump and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said talks with Canada would begin immediately, though Trump threatened he could put tariffs on Canadian-made cars if a three-way deal could not be reached.
“I think with Canada, frankly, the easiest we can do is to tariff their cars coming in. It’s a tremendous amount of money and it’s a very simple negoti...

American hero, John McCain stops treatment for terminal brain cancer
2018-08-24 18:54:54 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain, the six-term Arizona senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee, has chosen to discontinue medical treatment for his brain cancer, his family said Friday.
In a statement, the family said McCain had surpassed expectations for survival, but “the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict.” The family added, “With his usual strength of will, he has now chosen to discontinue medical treatment.”
The senator, who would be 82 next week, has been away from the Capitol since December. If he should resign his seat or die soon, Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey would name a r...

CEOs: Trump's Immigration Policy Hurts U.S. Economy
2018-08-24 01:13:53 UTC
(Reuters) - A group of chief executive officers at the largest U.S. companies expressed serious concern about the Trump administration’s immigration policy and said the rules increase uncertainty and undermine economic growth.
In the letter signed by 59 CEOs including Tim Cook of Apple Inc (AAPL.O), JPMorgan Chase & Co’s (JPM.N) Jamie Dimon and Doug Parker of American Airlines (AAL.O), the executives said that many of their employees were now facing uncertainty due to issues such as ‘inconsistent immigration decisions’ that would likely curtail work permits for spouses of skilled immigrants.
“As the federal government undertakes its ...

Iran praises EU for their efforts to salvage 'Nuclear deal'
2018-08-19 16:50:57 UTC
LONDON (Reuters) - Iran’s vice president said on Sunday the government was seeking solutions to sell oil and transfer its revenues despite fresh U.S. sanctions.
“We are hopeful that the European countries can meet their commitments but even if they cannot, we are seeking solutions to sell our oil and transfer its revenues,” Eshaq Jahangiri was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.
In similar remarks, Iranian foreign minister praised the European signatories for their efforts to salvage the deal, especially for EU’s so-called blocking statute that aims to mitigate the impact of U.S. sanctions for European businesses.
Howe...

Steady and strong: German economy picking up more steam
2018-08-14 07:07:13 UTC
BERLIN (Reuters) - The German economy picked up more steam than expected in the second quarter, driven by higher household and state spending, preliminary data showed on Tuesday.
Gross domestic product in Europe’s biggest economy expanded by 0.5 percent quarter-on-quarter, the Federal Statistics Office said. That compared with a Reuters forecast of 0.4 percent.
The office also revised up the quarterly growth rate for the first three months of the year to 0.4 percent from 0.3 percent reported previously.
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the economy grew by 2.0 percent from April to June, calendar-adjusted data s...

China takes over project in world’s biggest natural gas reserves in Iran
2018-08-11 18:21:26 UTC
Reuters - China’s state-owned energy major CNPC has taken over the share in Iran’s multi-billion dollar South Pars gas project held by France’s Total, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday.
Total signed a contract in 2017 to develop Phase II of South Pars field with an initial investment of $1 billion, marking the first major Western energy investment in the country after sanctions were lifted in 2016. South Pars has the world’s biggest natural gas reserves ever found in one place.
But the French company had said it would pull out unless it secured a U.S. sanctions waiver, and Gholamreza Manouchehri, deputy head of ...

Impact of escalating trade tensions between US and China
2018-08-08 18:14:42 UTC
(Reuters) - U.S. companies are putting in place measures to cushion the impact of escalating trade tensions between the United States and China.
The world’s two largest economies have already imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of each other’s imports.
In the latest development, Washington slapped additional tariffs on $16 billion worth of China’s goods and Beijing followed suit.
The following is a list of recent comments made by U.S. companies:
** Tesla Inc said higher import duties on Chinese components and unfavorable currency movements likely to cause negative pressures. Price hikes made to offset the tariffs will likely h...

China slaps additional tariffs of 25 percent on $16 billion US imports
2018-08-08 17:44:20 UTC
BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China is slapping additional tariffs of 25 percent on $16 billion worth of U.S. imports from fuel and steel products to autos and medical equipment, the Chinese commerce ministry said, as the world’s largest economies escalated their trade dispute.
The tariffs will be activated on Aug. 23, the ministry said, the same day that the United States plans to begin collecting 25 percent extra in tariffs on $16 billion of Chinese goods.
The United States published its final list of goods subject to the new tariffs on Tuesday.
China’s final list announced on Wednesday differs from an earlier draft it publishe...

Trump’s ‘unmitigated crap’ on California wildfires
2018-08-07 21:23:33 UTC
U.S. President Donald Trump has weighed in on the California wildfires. But it wasn’t to express condolences for the victims or to praise the incredible bravery of firefighters — it was to try to score political points.
And he did so by badly twisting the science of how wildfires work. In a now-deleted tweet, Trump blamed “bad environmental laws” for “diverting” water into the Pacific Ocean.
Scientists mock Trump’s tweet on wildfires as ‘comedically ill-informed’ and ‘unmitigated crap.’
His climate denial is "a crime against the planet" warns climatologist.
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EU raises concerns over new US move on Iran
2018-08-06 17:59:19 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration expects economic sanctions that it is re-imposing on Iran this week to further cripple the Iranian economy and will aggressively enforce the measures, senior U.S. administration officials said on Monday.
But the U.S. sanctions strategy has several weak spots, especially a reluctance by Europe and China to curtail business with Iran.
The European Union voiced regret and expressed concern at the new U.S. move.
“We deeply regret the re-imposition of sanctions by the U.S.,” the bloc said in a joint statement with the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain.
One EU measure to...

Apple became the first $1 trillion listed US company
2018-08-02 18:06:54 UTC
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple became the first $1 trillion publicly listed U.S. company on Thursday, crowning a decade-long rise fueled by its ubiquitous iPhone that transformed it from a niche player in personal computers into a global powerhouse spanning entertainment and communications.
The tech company’s stock jumped 2.8 percent to as high as $207.05, bringing its gain to about 9 percent since Tuesday when its reported June-quarter results above expectations and said it bought back $20 billion of its own shares.
Started in the garage of co-founder Steve Jobs in 1976, Apple has pushed its revenue beyond the economic outputs of P...

British car makers and consumers would suffer from "No-Deal" Brexit
2018-07-31 02:14:06 UTC
LONDON (Reuters) - A no-deal Brexit is not an option for Britain’s car industry, given the costs and disruption that carmakers and consumers would suffer, the head of the country’s automobile industry group said on Tuesday.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), said carmakers were “increasingly concerned” about the lack of clarity around the manner of Britain’s departure from the European Union.
With less than eight months until the divorce is due to take place, Prime Minister Theresa May has yet to find a proposal to maintain economic ties with the bloc that pleases both sides of her d...

Plunge in Facebook shares rattled Amazon options market
2018-07-26 18:56:45 UTC
SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A plunge in Facebook Inc shares rattled the Amazon.com Inc options market on Thursday, with the social network’s fellow FAANG company due to report quarterly results later in the day.
Facebook on Wednesday warned about a margin hit as revenue growth slows and user privacy costs climb, and its 20 percent share drop heightened focus on the online retailer, already a closely watched stock.
Amazon was the second-biggest decliner in the so-called FAANG group of high-flying tech companies, but Facebook’s second-quarter earnings also cast a pall on shares of Apple Inc, Netflix Inc and Google parent Alphabe...

Hostile rhetoric between Trump and Tehran escalating
2018-07-23 16:27:09 UTC
Hostile rhetoric between Washington and Tehran escalated on Sunday after a tit-for-tat between Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani.
U.S. President Donald Trump told Iran it risked dire consequences “the like of which few throughout history have suffered before” if the Islamic Republic made more threats against the United States.
His words, spelled out in capital letters in a late night Twitter message, came hours after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Trump that hostile policies toward Tehran could lead to “the mother of all wars.”
Despite the heightened rhetoric, both sides have reasons to want to avoid st...

EU to protect oil exports & firms from US sanctions on Iran
2018-07-17 21:13:17 UTC
The Iran nuclear agreement marked its third anniversary in a gloomy state. Despite repeated attempts to keep him on board, US President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal – signed on July 14, 2015 under the formal title the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – and thereby pulled the rug from under Europe’s feet. European policymakers are now focused on salvaging the agreement. For a growing number of European corporate decision-makers, the deal is already dead. In reality, the JCPOA is on life support and the next few months could open either its next or final chapter. Despite the significant challenges they face...

Trade war: China accuses US of “opening fire”
2018-07-05 16:53:07 UTC
BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China accused the United States on Thursday of “opening fire” on the world with tariffs set to take effect on Friday, warning that it will respond the moment that duties on $34 billion in Chinese goods kick in.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to further escalate the trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies with tariffs on as much as $450 billion worth of Chinese goods if China retaliates, as the initial round of tariffs take effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) on Friday.
There was no evidence of any last-minute negotiations between U.S. and Chinese officials, business sources ...

World Trade Organization rules in favor of Canada against US
2018-07-05 16:28:20 UTC
GENEVA (Reuters) - Canada won the bulk of a ruling at the World Trade Organization on Thursday in a dispute over U.S. duties on Canadian exports of supercalendered paper, which is used in glossy magazines and catalogues.
Canada filed the complaint in 2016, saying Washington was wrong to penalize Canada for subsidizing its paper industry.
The ruling can be appealed by either side.
The panel of WTO judges declined to rule on several of Canada’s arguments, but in other respects they found almost entirely in Canada’s favor.
Canada had complained about U.S. subsidy investigations into Canadian firms Port Hawkesbury Paper LP and Reso...

Volkswagen offers carsharing service with electric vehicles
2018-07-04 19:11:31 UTC
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen plans to start offering car sharing services using fully electric vehicles in German cities next year as part of efforts to serve consumers who don’t want to buy their own vehicles.
Its offering will compete in its home market with DriveNow and Car2Go, the soon-to-be-merged carsharing services of BMW and Daimler Benz.
Volkswagen said on Wednesday the new carsharing service would be expanded to major cities in Europe, North America and Asia as early as 2020 and focus on core VW brand cars.
VW is seeking to move on from its diesel emissions scandal of 2015, the repercussions of which are still being...

Harley-Davidson move shows consequences of Trump's trade war
2018-06-27 00:38:30 UTC
WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Harley-Davidson Inc with higher taxes on Tuesday and said the motorcycle maker, which he previously hailed as a model of American manufacturing, would suffer from a public backlash if it went ahead with a plan to move production for European customers overseas.
Trump’s attack, the latest in a series of criticisms of U.S. companies, was an about-face for the president, who hosted company officials and gleaming Harley-Davidson bikes on the White House lawn shortly after his inauguration.
“A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never! Their employe...

Brexit: Pro European Union Protesters March in London
2018-06-23 22:01:31 UTC
LONDON (Reuters) - Around 100,000 supporters of the European Union marched through central London on Saturday to demand that the British government hold a final public vote on the terms of Brexit, organizers said.
Protesters packed the main arteries of the capital, waving British, Irish and European flags and colorful banners to call for a “People’s Vote” on the eventual deal in which Britain leaves the world’s biggest trading bloc.
On the second anniversary of the 52 to 48 percent Brexit vote, polls show political divisions are entrenched. Despite some confusion over what Brexit will actually mean there has been no clear change of h...

Tesla to close 14 solar facilities, cut jobs
2018-06-22 04:44:58 UTC
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Electric car maker Tesla Inc’s move last week to cut 9 percent of its workforce will sharply downsize the residential solar business it bought two years ago in a controversial $2.6 billion deal, according to three internal company documents and seven current and former Tesla solar employees.
The latest cuts to the division that was once SolarCity - a sales and installation company founded by two cousins of Tesla CEO Elon Musk - include closing about a dozen installation facilities, according to internal company documents, and ending a retail partnership with Home Depot Inc that the current and former employees ...

Poll: 70 percent of Canadians boycott U.S. products
2018-06-16 07:43:47 UTC
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Seventy percent of Canadians say they will start looking for ways to avoid buying U.S.-made goods in a threat to ratchet up a trade dispute between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump, an Ipsos Poll showed on Friday.
The poll also found a majority of Americans and Canadians are united in support of Trudeau and opposition to Trump in their countries’ stand-off over the renegotiation of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Amid the spat, Trump pulled out of a joint communique with six other countries last weekend during a Quebec summit meeting of the Group of Seven rich nati...

Iran to Kim: Don't trust Trump, he quits deals within hours
2018-06-12 23:46:34 UTC
LONDON (Reuters) - Iran warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday against trusting U.S. President Donald Trump, saying he could cancel their denuclearization agreement within hours.
Tehran cited its own experience in offering the advice to Kim a month after Washington withdrew from a similar deal with Iran.
Trump and Kim pledged at a meeting in Singapore on Tuesday to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula while Washington committed to provide security guarantees for its old enemy.
“We don’t know what type of person the North Korean leader is negotiating with. It is not clear that he would not cancel...

Trump's massive tax cuts drive up U.S. deficits: Just in May alone, $147 billion
2018-06-12 23:06:23 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government had a $147 billion budget deficit in May, an increase of 66 percent from the same month last year as the ledger took a hit from declining revenue and higher spending, according to Treasury Department data released on Tuesday.
Treasury reported a budget deficit of $88 billion in the same month last year, the department’s monthly budget statement showed.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the Treasury recording a $144 billion deficit in May.
When accounting for calendar adjustments, the government’s deficit was $131 billion compared to an adjusted deficit of $88 billion in the same m...

Canadian province of Quebec offers C$100 million in loans to companies hit by U.S. tariffs
2018-06-11 22:15:23 UTC
MONTREAL (Reuters) - The Canadian province of Quebec will offer C$100 million ($77.1 million) in loans and guarantees on loans to steel and aluminum companies hit by recent U.S. tariffs, the province’s economy minister said on Monday.
Companies that transform the metals will benefit from the program after the United States recently slapped a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports.
Economy Minister Dominique Anglade told reporters in Montreal that the program came after aluminum and steel companies received feedback from clients who are not willing to pay the tariffs.
“What they’re telling us is some...